Israel Thread

GasBandit

Staff member
Biden needs to understand that if he "supports protesting" but doesn't support protests that disrupt normal activity, he doesn't actually support protests.

It's supposed to be the REPUBLICANS that think murder is an acceptable response to property destruction but property destruction isn't an acceptable response to murder.
 

Dave

Staff member
When it comes to politics, all the democrats have to do is keep calm and not fuck up and they will win. Why can't they do that?
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Biden – acknowledging that U.S. weapons have been used to kill civilians in Gaza – threatened to cut off shipments of American weapons to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a full-scale invasion of Rafah. More than a million displaced Palestinians are currently sheltering in the southern Gaza city. Until now, which follows months of growing tension and frustration with Israel’s management of the war, Biden has resisted calls to limit U.S. support of Israel’s efforts to go after Hamas amid a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Biden administration has also said for months that it would not support an operation in Rafah unless Israel presented a credible plan to evacuate and protect civilians living in the area. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,” Biden said. “Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden added, referring to 2,000-pound bombs that he paused shipments of last week. On Tuesday, Israeli troops seized control of and closed the Rafah border crossing in what the White House characterized as a limited operation – short of the full invasion of the city. Since then, negotiations for a hostage and ceasefire deal have paused, in part because of the fighting in Rafah, and no aid has entered through Gaza’s southern crossings. The WHO and other humanitarian aid agencies warned that hospitals in southern Gaza have less than three days of fuel supplies left and without fuel “all humanitarian operations will stop.” Meanwhile, Netanyahu, who has vowed to achieve a “total victory” over Hamas and said the country’s military would enter Rafah “with or without” a ceasefire deal, reacted with defiance to Biden’s warning, saying: “If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone.” The IDF’s spokesman added that Israel already had the “necessary weapons” for its planned operations, “including in Rafah.” (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN / NBC News / ABC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
 

GasBandit

Staff member
A State Department report said it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel had used American-provided weapons in Gaza that are “inconsistent” with international law. The report, however, stopped short of officially saying Israel violated the law, saying there was insufficient information to draw firm conclusions in any specific instances. The report concluded that Israel’s assurances that it’s not violating U.S. or international law were “credible and reliable.” The finding allows the continued supply of U.S. weapons to Israel. (Washington Post / NPR / Associated Press / CNN / NBC News / Politico)
 

GasBandit

Staff member
The Biden administration plans to move forward with the sale of more than $1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel. It’s expected to take several years before any weapons in the package are delivered. The notification of the potential sale, however, comes less than a week after the White House withheld a shipment of 3,500 bombs over concerns Israel would use them in a potential invasion of Rafah, where more than 1 million refugees have been sheltering. The new, proposed package includes about $700 million for tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles, and $60 million in mortar rounds. (Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / USA Today)
 
Yeah, the Biden administration really seems to actively be doing anything they can to get Trump re-elected. I mean, I understand the Jewish lobby is strong in America and so on, I know the US won't suddenly be pro-Palestine, but coming off as this waffley just means you'll alienate both the "progressive" left wing who's pro-Palestine and the moderate and right wing pro-Israel voters. This was a lose-lose move and I don't get it. Plus it makes the whole "line in the sand" once again toothless thus making Biden look weak, which was already one of his big flaws.
Really, just pause all weapon delivery plans/agreements/whatever until after the vote war has ended and you could have at least scored some points on one side and come off as being willing to stand your ground which would've scored some points in the center. But nooooo.

And even internationally it's a terrible look. Selling weapons to a regime which you acknowledge is using them "not in line with international law and conventions" just gives Russia, Iran and China even more munition to make you seem all talk and no act.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
The International Court of Justice on Friday ordered Israel to immediately halt its military assault on Rafah, citing an “immediate risk” to Palestinians. Then on Sunday, two Israeli airstrikes on a tent camp where displaced civilians were sheltering ignited a deadly fire that killed at least 45 people and wounded 249 other people in Rafah, the Gaza city where more than 1 million people are seeking refuge in dire conditions. Israeli tanks also advanced into central Rafah for the first time. Despite international condemnation and world leaders calling for an investigation into the attack and for Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the strike was “a tragic accident,” but gave no indication of curtailing his offensive in Rafah. The Israeli military said the strike used “precise munitions” to kill two senior Hamas leaders, and claimed “our munitions alone could not have ignited a fire of this size” – suggesting that a secondary explosion — possibly of a weapons cache — was likely the cause of the fire. Biden, meanwhile, is not altering his policy toward Israel and the White House said the Israeli strike on a tent camp hadn’t violated his “red line” because it wasn’t “a major ground operation.” The White House, however, suggested that the attack on “innocent Palestinians [is] heartbreaking” and that “Israel must take every precaution possible to protect civilians.” (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
 
I read that article. Nice how they give you absolutely no context for the partial sentence and don't even cite the article so you can read it yourself.

The UN's Gaza Statistics Make No Sense by Graeme Wood, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/gaza-death-count/678400/

It's an article about the difficulty in getting accurate death statistics, because Hamas isn't completely trustworthy but neither is Israel. There is difficulty in estimating the number of unidentified/unaccounted for dead (as opposed to identified dead):

Neither Hamas source, Adesnik writes, has fully explained where it gets its estimate of the number of unaccounted-for dead: more than 10,000 people. During the war, hospitals have stopped functioning, and keeping people alive has taken higher priority than keeping defensible statistics. But these numbers matter—first, because of the dignity of those killed or still living, and second, because total deaths and the ratio of combatant to noncombatant deaths will have implications for judgments about alleged war crimes and genocide.
(Graeme Wood is a heartless asshole, amirite?)

And then the article discusses how Israel is not allowing embedded journalists with its military, and the author compares that to the US allowing embedded journalists in Iraq and Afghanistan to report on what is actually happening. The section with this partial sentence follows that discussion.

Israel currently embeds zero journalists in Gaza. It isn’t legally obligated to let journalists join its frontline units. But it doesn’t let journalists into Gaza independently, either. “To allow journalists to report safely,” an Israeli military spokesperson told me, the Israel Defense Forces “accompany them when on the battlefield.” He would not say how many journalists had in fact been allowed to accompany IDF units—let alone accompany them on regular operations, rather than short press tours of battle sites after the action. When Hamas alleges that Israeli soldiers are shooting everyone in sight, and murdering families by flattening buildings devoid of military purpose, it can point to the dead children. Israel can deny the charge and hope that the world trusts it over an avowed terrorist group. The world seldom obliges.

To rebut Hamas’s allegations by letting journalists see the war up close would be a calculated risk. Even when conducted legally, war is ugly. It is possible to kill children legally, if for example one is being attacked by an enemy who hides behind them. But the sight of a legally killed child is no less disturbing than the sight of a murdered one. And Israel has discovered that shutting out the press carries its own risks. An infanticide that no one can see is also going to attract suspicion. Unsympathetic observers will think Israel is conducting its war in the manner of other countries whose counterinsurgent forces have preferred to work out of view of independent media. Russia did this in the Second Chechen War; Sri Lanka, in its civil war. Both countries’ militaries had much to hide.
Yes, Wood and The Atlantic are obviously monsters for...*actually reads full paragraph*... criticizing Israel for not allowing journalists to observe its actions in Gaza.

I thought deliberate misquotes and misinformation tactics--and attacking journalists in general--was something we criticized the Trumpers for? Jesus Fucking Christ.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Biden suggested that there is “every reason for people” to conclude that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is dragging out the war in Gaza to cling to power. The statement came in an interview with Time magazine, which was published three days before Biden revealed the details of the “Israeli plan” to bring a permanent ceasefire and hostage exchange. Netanyahu, however, has since publicly distanced himself from the deal. Biden also said although “a lot of innocent people have been killed,” he was “uncertain” whether Israel had committed war crimes. The House, meanwhile, passed legislation to sanction International Criminal Court officials for seeking arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials, including Netanyahu. Biden opposes sanctions and the bill will likely fail in the Senate, but 42 House Democrats broke with their party and voted with Republicans for it. (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / Axios / Washington Post / CNN / Mother Jones)
 
It kicks so much ass that Israel is rejecting Israel's ceasefire proposal. Israel is a very tough negotiator though.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
An Israeli airstrike on a school operated by the United Nations for displaced Palestinian refugees in Gaza killed at least 40 people, including women and children. The Israel Defense Forces said its forces launched a “precise strike” targeting a group of about 30 Hamas militants. The IDF claims Hamas was using “three classrooms” as a base inside the U.N. school. Despite footage showing bodies wrapped in blankets or plastic bags being laid out in lines in the courtyard of the hospital, an Israeli military spokesperson said he was “not aware of any civilian casualties” as a result of the strike. The Biden administration, meanwhile, said it does not have “independent verification of what exactly occurred,” but that it is talking with the Israelis to “try to get a better understanding.” (Associated Press / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
 
I'm sure there's always that group of people the fascists talk about like, "Oh, those guys? Yeah, they think they're special, but we just keep them around because they're useful."

--Patrick
 
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